You need to raise the rear of the car and put jack stands under either the rear axle or the front of the spring perches, remove the rear wheels and the brake drums, you may have to remove the brake shoes and some or all of the brake hardware, there is a hole in the plate with the wheel studs, this is to put a socket and a ratchet or impact wrench which works better, there are 4 nuts to remove, then you need a axle puller you can rent it, it attaches to the wheel studs with the lug nuts, and has a slide weight which acts like a hammer and pull the axle out of the housing, you will have to take them to an auto parts store and they will replace the bearings as they are pressed on. If there are seals in the axle housing, separate from the axle, they can be pryed out with a big screwdriver and new ones driven in, be sure to clean the opening for the seal in the housing and use a gasket sealer or silicone adhesive around the outside of the seal before it is driven in. A shop manual can give a more accurate procedure, but this should be pretty close. Good Luck.

You must not have a vintage 8" rear axle, with a third member, yours must have a rear cover, to remove to gain access to remove the bolt or keeper to retain the rear axles. The procedure I gave was for a third member type rear axle. What year is your vehicle?

You must not have a vintage 8" rear axle, with a third member, yours must have a rear cover, to remove to gain access to remove the bolt or keeper to retain the rear axles. The procedure I gave was for a third member type rear axle. What year is your vehicle?

the car is a 65 mustang, but the rear end is not original, and it was in the car when i purchased it, so i have no clue what it came out of or what year it is. I posted pictures of to find out which rear end i had and someone said it seemed to be a 69 perhaps out of a maverick.

If they left the tag on the rear cover, it should be able to tell several things about the rear axle. Maybe Veronica can help. I checked out your pictures on the rear end, and it does have a third member, I will check my books and see it they have any more info.

Last edited by rex1965; 05-29-2010 at 09:44 AM.
Reason: more information

If the bearings stay in the housing, what keeps the axle from sliding out, something doesn't click, this has me puzzled. I'm thinking the bearings were loose on the axle and tight to the housing, like maybe some used the wrong ones. I've done a lot of rear axle bearings in my younger days, and I can't recall a single one where the bearings stayed in the housing unless they were a non-third member type and you had to remove the keepers inside the housing to remove the axles. The other possibility is the wheel bearings are so worn that the inside race came out with the axle and the outer race stayed in the housing.

I checked my books and they didn't go new enough, but I did check on the internet and here's what I came up with, WDW-Z is from a Granada or Monarch, 75-80, The 0A23 is the date code, that I haven't decoded yet, it is a 3.00:1 ratio, 8 in, 28 splines, differential type is a T2 which is supposed to be a traction lock it should have clutch packs inside and S550E is the Plant code, which I haven't decoded yet. There may be some errors in this information but this is what I found. I hope this helps.

OK guys if you look to the left under my user name it says "ROOKIE", it says this for a reason!!!

I pulled the axle out and yes the bearings and the retainer ring are on the axle, you guys have been correct so far, now tell me how to get the bearings off the axle shaft because of the pressure fit. then when you put the new bearings on when you reinstall the axle does this make the pressure fit? or do they need to hammered on first?

One way to get old bearings off is to use a cut off wheel and cut through them carefully without damaging the axle. Another way is to take them to a machine shop and have them pressed off. The new one's need to be pressed on so you may as well have a machine shop do it (or any place with a press). I wouldn't recommend hammering them on. And don't forget the retainer and new gaskets and seals...